Parallels
by Archive of the Prophet
Summary: "The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting." ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War. Ghosts from Church's past have returned, hunting him, and he chose her, Penny, for help. How will Penny keep both safe from a monster? This story is a sequel to "I Know You'll Understand" and happens alongside "Constant Caution". Please read all three! Rate/Review/Favorite/Share!


The wind swirled around her, but she could not feel it. The cold air chilled her to the core, yet she could not shiver. The light snow dribbled onto her body, but she could not shake from the water slipping into her clothing. This was not because she was unfeeling, rather, something further than that. She had emotions, wants and desperation. She was motivated and fearful. She, however, was not what others had perceived her as. She had been faking her whole short life, but this did not change her personality or abilities. It did, however, make her quirky and high maintenance, not just because of her dynamic personality, but because she wasn't human either. She was an android, an artificial being capable of sentient abilities and thoughts. She was powerful and intelligent. She was P.E.N.N.Y., a soldier and secret weapon capable of infiltrating civilizations based on her appearance, that of a small girl.

Penny was in trouble.

A few days prior, little Penny Polendina was minding her own business in her home of Atlas, a cold and desolate, yet advanced landscape unlike any other. This was her home, yet she felt like a stranger in an unkind land. Her home was more of a military state than a peaceful kingdom, developing weapons and artificial beings to defend the people of Remnant. She felt that this should not be so, that the kingdom should return to peace, ironically, for if it never happened, she'd not be here. This was a flaw in her sentience, she thought.

The winter was especially rough in this blizzard. However, as she walked, she had stumbled upon something in the snow. A large ship, that unlike any she'd seen before, sat in the snow, wrecked and in shambles. 'This is most peculiar.' She thought, her eyes zooming to see the different letters on the side. It wasn't a normal transport, nor a civilian shuttle. This was something far larger and more insidious than many things she'd seen in her lifetime, or in her databanks. She approached slowly, cautiously, as not to set off any alarms or alert nearby hostiles, be there any. The word 'Machina' was hardly legible on the side of the ship, and ice had covered the sides. She did notice that the ice was fresh and thin, as though the ship had crashed not even a week prior. As the winds picked up, she noticed her gears beginning to freeze. She wandered inside the ship through a tear in the hull, hoping to evade the elements. The tear led to some sort of loading bay, with several containers tipped over and crowbars scattered about. She grabbed one and pried a crate open, revealing several packaged sandwiches and chips labeled 'Chaos Nachos.' She didn't need food for nutrients, but for raw fuels, and it helped her keep up a human appearance. She snarfed down a few sandwiches and busted a bag of chips open, eating a few here and there. She crossed the bay to a door that had 'Training' blaring in neon across the doorframe. Remembering Pyrrha's advice, she made her way inside, her body loosening from the surprising warmth the large ship produced. The halls were long and confusing, but she made her way nevertheless. The further inside she walked, she heard a growling, not that of a Grimm, but of something bigger, something more human. She thought this to be a figment of her imagination before she remembered she had no imagination. Now moving faster, she found the training arena. It was cold and open, a few windows were busted, allowing a draft inside. She scanned the room, and the first thing she noticed was the burn marks on the walls and floor. They were pitch black, a few were layered over one another. She also saw plenty of bullet holes amongst the walls, and breaks in the floor. Then she saw the body. A Grifball player was slumped against the wall, a large gash along its chest. The armor was teal, a gorgeous color, ruined by red stains, Penny noted. As she approached, she felt something she'd not felt since her last databank update: a searing migraine. It pounded against her head, her eyes overcome with tears. She felt sick to her stomach, and her fingers tensed and squeezed, her head pounding and vibrating. Then, as suddenly as it began, it stopped. She shivered, her head clearing and her body returning to normal. Then, she heard it. A voice, not from outside, but from inside.

"You. Yeah, you. Ginger girl. I don't know what kind of technology you're built from, and I don't know if you're anywhere nearly as fucking talented to do what Carolina could do, but I'm gonna need you to listen and listen good."

"Well." Penny said.

"Excuse me?"

"Correct grammar dictates the word 'good' be replaced with 'well'." Her words penetrated the silence, as she realized her voice was not also being spoken from within.

The voice seemed to breathe, inhaling and exhaling controlled and humanlike, even if the voice was synthesized. "Alright. Whateverthefuck. I don't give a grammatical shit about it. Just listen, goddammit, or you're dead and I'll be pretty fucked too."

"What should I call you?"

"DOES THAT REALLY FUCKING MATTER RIGHT NOW? WE COULD DIE RIGHT NOW AND THAT'S YOUR FUCKING QUESTION? NOT, 'HEY, CHURCH, WHAT THE SHIT IS GOING TO HANG ME BY MY ENTRAILS IF HE GETS HIS HANDS ON YOU?'"

Penny grinned. "So I gather your name is Church?"

The screaming ceased, and for a second, silence once more filled the room. "Yes. My name is Church. Now, please, I need you to listen to me."

She agreed and stretched. "Hey, Church, what the shit is going to hang me by my entrails if he gets his hands on you?"

A chuckle sounded from within. "We used to call him Maine. He was one of the best. An AI Fragment brainwashed him-"

"AI… What's the A stand-"

Church growled. "Not again."

"No, I'm only playing. I know of Artificial Intelligence, but never have I heard of a fragmented one." Penny's look went from glee to curiosity.

"Alright, well, a while back, the Director fragmented one and one of the pieces was a homicidal sociopath with an obsession for Metastability."

"I know that as well."

"Good. He was supposed to be dead, hell, we had seen him plummet do the bottom of a cliff, and that's the last we saw of the big shit. The powers that be have his scary ass walking again."

Penny nodded once more. "I gather the soldier in teal was your companion? He tried to obtain you from him?"

"She, actually, and well, Carolina is- was the best we had to stop him. She bled out as he pummeled her, and she told me to eject. As fucked as it is, she was the closest thing I had to a real best friend… and that monster that calls himself The Meta? Yeah, fuck that guy. I need to get the hell out of here and make a call. That… man… is gonna use me for whatever the fuck and I'm not game for that."

"Is he in all white?"

"Yeah, actually. Why?" Church began to scan the room.

Penny shivered. "Were there two?"

Church began to panic, and in his readings, found the two heat signatures. There stood Maine, The Meta, his Bruteshot in tow and his wounds appeared to be healing. However, the surprising factor was the other standing beside him. Wyoming, in all his glory, appeared to stand beside him.

"What do we do?" Penny asked, readying herself for battle.

Church shook his head. "How about we just fucking run?"

Penny, without hesitation, took off, running through the confusing corridors, analyzing the best exits and hoping for another tear in the ship to appear to her. As she sprinted through the ship, she ran statistics on battle with the two adversaries. She found that because she knew nothing about them, she couldn't predict positively in her favor. She busted through the Bay access door and back into the room with the sandwich crates. She tossed a few crates behind her, hoping to create a distraction. She bolted forward, and she spotted the break in the hull she entered from, through which she now escaped through. She grazed her thigh against the tears in the steel, and rather than pain her, she felt itchy. As she landed in the powder on the ground, she tried to slow her gears, allowing herself to regain composure.

"Don't stop!" Church exclaimed, still panicked.

Penny's arms dropped to her sides. "But if I don't, my circuits will lock up and I'll have to shut down."

Church laughed. "I'll keep those running from in here if you keep on running. It's not too complicated."

"Then may you do something for me, a favor if you will." She prepared to run again. "Activate my internal scroll and call Ruby Rose. She would know what to do more than me."

Church coughed. "What could she know?" He mumbled as Penny took off running. He searched her records and dialed Ruby's number. "I hope this works." The line buzzed for a second before a pleasant voice came through the other end.

"Hello?" The voice was cheery, childish. Almost purely innocent.

"No time for pleasantries." Penny's words, while urgent, never gave away that she was running. She had no need to exhale. "I'm being followed by two Grifball players, but they're in all white." She scrambled over her words. "I'm not sure as to what I should do."

Ruby took a few seconds to respond, white snow beginning to cloud Penny's eyes. "Penny, where are you now?"

"Uh, I'm in Atlas. I was just visiting, and uh, well this happened."

Ruby cleared her throat. "Okay, you need to find Neptune." She said. "He's on leave there, and he'll be able to help you better than I can." She waited a few seconds, and another question came through. "Why are they following you?"

Penny sighed. "They didn't start until the little blue man started talking to me."

Another pause, Ruby beginning to tense. "What is its name?"

"Uh..." Penny whispered as low as possible. "Do you have a first name, Church?"

Church grumbled. "It's Leonard."

"Leonard Church."

Penny grew impatient because of all the pauses. She leapt a small canyon, landing more gracefully than before, she noted. "Penny, seek out someone else while you're there. A Freelancer in the Big Bloop Cafe named Wash can help you."

Relieved, Penny began to scan for caves to stay in. "You are a lifesaver. Bye now!"

As the call disconnected, Church let out a harrowing sigh. "Washington? Here? I don't even know where here is!"

Penny ducked into a small cavern and laid as still as possible. "Well, if he is going help, it is a good thing he is here." She shuddered. "I am going to power down, if that is okay with you."


End file.
